The Best Way to Heal Pain NOW

If you have pain anywhere in your body, you owe it to yourself to try this right now!

Following is an excerpt from Pete Egoscue's "#1 Move to Do for a Pain-Free Body" post and video, with my key points, comments and testimonial in bold.

How I Know This Works

The parts about the foot not pointing forward contributing to knee pain are true. I get knee and back pain often so I use this position daily for as little as two minutes!

Please read my article highlights for a quick understanding, then the full article and watch the video.

Article

The efficacy of static back lies in its simplicity. When your body works with gravity to find realignment, comfort will increase naturally.￼Pain is not something to be feared; it is something to be understood. It is usually the body’s way of telling us that we’re physically off balance, that is, our weight distribution isn’t fifty-fifty left to right and we’re not vertically loaded, meaning our head isn’t sitting squarely over our shoulders which isn’t sitting squarely over our hips all the way down through the knee and ankle joints. This leads to weight not being evenly distributed on our feet and our feet not pointing straight ahead. All of which leads to pain somewhere in the body. Don’t fear that pain. Listen to it and respond.

Whenever we are off balance and not vertically loaded, gravity works against us. The first law of my 8 Laws of Physical Health states: “Gravity is necessary for health. In order for gravity to exert a positive and dynamic influence on the body it must be vertically aligned in its postures.” When the body is not vertically aligned, it will be unbalanced, and gravity will exacerbate that imbalance. For instance, a right knee might get sore after jogging not because of the pounding or even because of the knee but rather because the hips are misaligned, putting more weight on the right side than the left.

Static back is a great way to use gravity to our advantage when we are off balance. This exercise, pictured above, involves laying on the floor with the feet and calves elevated on a chair, ottoman, or block. The backs of the knees should be flush with the edge of the block so the legs are supported and the muscles can release.The first great aspect of static back is that it gets us down on the floor. I addressed the importance of this in my last article....Incidentally, there is nothing static or passive about static back, even though it looks like folks are just lying on the ground. The truth is that static back is an incredibly active maneuver. Contrary to what some people might believe, achieving symmetry in our bodies does not require motion alone. It requires a symmetrical demand on the body, and that’s what static back is—a symmetrical stimulus that is engaging all the muscles of the muscular-skeletal system in a process of redistribution. There’s a lot more going on than just getting off your feet.

I encourage doing static back on a relatively hard surface. Your first few times, don’t lie down for more than 10 minutes, but how many times you want to do it a day is up to you. Trust your instincts and your body: It will let you know what feels good. By feeling good, I mean how the body feels during the settling process while you’re in static back. Initially, you’re going to feel stiffness when you get up and maybe even as you walk around the first few days, but that stiffness is the result of reengaging long dormant muscles. It can be alleviated with pelvic tilts or cats and dogs.

When you’re lying on your back, you will be inclined to put your arms in different positions because your body is asymmetrical, so one arm will have more range of motion than the other. That’s natural, but it’s important that you place both of your arms in the same position, and you should respond to the one with restricted range. If you can put your right arm out straight, but you can’t move your left arm too far from your hip, then bring that right arm in toward the hip. This imbalance will change relatively soon, and eventually you’ll have both arms out straight to the side, palms up.

Lastly, breathe. When our body is off balance, the nerve that activates our diaphragm, the phrenic nerve, gets impinged, and so the diaphragm doesn’t have enough room to work. We end up breathing with our shoulders. However, as you lie on your back, and the body lengthens out and the torso becomes symmetrical, the phrenic nerve opens up, allowing room in the abdominal cavity for the diaphragm to work. When you breathe in, your stomach will expand, and when you breathe out, it will collapse, which is exactly what it’s supposed to do.

Breathing and balance. So much of our health comes down to those two things. And there are few ways better to optimize both than lying in static back.

Video

How to Perform this E-cise(™)

Relax your upper and lower back, letting the low back settle. Use big diaphragm breaths to help also "push" the low back down. Do this until you notice your low back is flat evenly from left to right.

HOLD at least 2 minutes

What this E-cise(™) does

This exercise creates horizontal load between shoulder and pelvis, which contributes to thoracic extension by engaging the stabilizers and flexors of the hip. This position helps prevent compensation from occurring while performing other types of muscular work.http://www.egoscue.com/WebMenus/QTVideo/30.html